“And when Simon saw that through laying on of the apostles’ hands the Holy Ghost was given, he offered them money,”
When Simon saw that the Spirit was given at the laying on of the apostles' hands, he offered them money - Simon observes the transfer of the Spirit and immediately 'offered them money' (prosphero chrēmata), attempting to purchase spiritual power. Luke does not explicitly state what 'the Spirit was given' means here (likely phenomena like glossolalia or prophecy), but Simon recognizes it as power and seeks to commercialize it. His true character emerges: he covets power and assumes everything has a price.
Church Fathers on Acts 8:18
Giving out, it says, that he was himself some great one. To whom they all gave heed, from the least to the greatest, saying, This man is the great power of God. And to him they had regard, because that of long time he had bewitched them with sorceries. But when they believed Philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God, and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. Then Simon himself believed also: and when he was baptized, he continued…
Nicene & Post-Nicene / Ante-Nicene Fathers translations · public domain
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